"A senior administration official told @MajorCBS that President Trump will present what the White House believes could be a deal to end the shutdown The deal was largely influenced by talks between VP Pence, Senate Maj. Leader McConnell and Jared Kushner"https://t.co/VHXN9DH6wm

In a parallel development, Bill Belachik, Tom Brady, and Rob Gronkowski all agree the Patriots are entitled to win this year’s Superbowl….

Who am I kidding? Belachik, Brady & Gronkowski are hard-working professionals who actually show up and do their damned jobs, unlike the grifters and leeches surrounding the Oval Office Squatter. So I’m guessing we’ll get a Very Serious Totally Not Partisan Emergency Statement tomorrow, assuming his handlers can find the right mix of pharmaceuticals to keep Donny Dollhands awake and more or less on script.

Meanwhile:

“Federal employees are generally barred from going on strike, even if they aren’t being paid, which has caused many to raid their retirement accounts, accept free food, or sell possessions online as they look for ways to pay bills.” https://t.co/qHsWG5YMIr

Senior law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned that the anger among the rank and file is growing exponentially and could skyrocket next week if a second straight paycheck is skipped. Via ?@DevlinBarrett? ?@markberman? https://t.co/Kz9zM3XcN6

Since this is a Repubs in Disarray! thread, RWNJs have sent a sternly worded letter to Kevin McCarthy, ordering him to apologize to Steve “Cantaloupes” King, and reinstate him on the committees that ditched him:

Dear Leader McCarthy,

We are appalled that Republican leadership would choose to believe a liberal news organization famous for their bias over an outstanding member of Congress who has served the people of Iowa and the United States honorably and faithfully for 16 years.

If Congressman Steve King believed and stood by the outrageous misquote of the New York Times, then the actions taken against him would have been warranted, but the opposite is true.

Unlike North Korea, we in the United States are “innocent until proven guilty” and hold to the principles of Western Civilization, as Rep. King so admirably does. The foundational principle begins with the self-evident truth that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” These are the principles to which Rep. King was referring and which he has championed for more than two decades of public service.

Don’t make the fatal mistake of turning the reins of the U.S. Congress over to the liberal media, allowing them to target, misquote, and falsely brand any member of Congress they wish to remove.

We call on you to do the right thing as Minority Leader: issue a public apology and reinstate Rep. King to his committee assignments. If we don’t stand with this good man against the media-manufactured assault today, none of us will be safe from it tomorrow.

If it’s “a deal”, it won’t be an emergency declaration. More likely, it will either be another “give me everything I want and in exchange you get nothing” Trump “deal” or Mitch McConnell has decided that it’s time to weasel out and he’s got some way of convincing Trump of that. My guess is the former.

I’ve muted the political stuff on twitter…at least until after the weekend if not longer. I’ve been feeling sick since yesterday…and to be quite honest, I just can’t be bothered to care much until some real concrete actions happen…

So I’m rely on my superficial love of movies and stuff to get me through the weekend. No time off at work, so I’ve got no sick days…so I have to try to recuperate by Monday…wish me luck

Senior law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned that the anger among the rank and file is growing exponentially and could skyrocket next week if a second straight paycheck is skipped.

I am expecting riots if this goes on past the end of the month and people lose their homes in large numbers. I doubt they will target Democrats.

@dmsilev:
Mitch is smart enough to know what kind of offer is dead in the water. Of course, what he wants is hard to identify, but his senators are feeling pressure, which means Mitch is feeling pressure.

@Frankensteinbeck: McConnell is smarter than Pence and Kushner put together (which, granted, is a low bar to clear), so any “deal” negotiated by the three of them is really going to be steered by what McConnell wants. As you say, the problem is figuring out what that is.

(shrug)

I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. It could be a feint. It could be real. It could be intended to be real, and then Trump blows the whole thing up because of something a Fox newstwit says. Who knows?

If he has a deal in mind, why isn’t he sending it to Schumer and Pelosi so action can get started on it? Even if it was legitimate and something the Dems could accept, he is still keeping the shutdown going longer than necessary.

Been rolling around the Buzzfeed scoop in my mind, wondering what it reminds me of. (As many have cited, it becomes increasingly problematic if one or more sources cannot confirm the story, more so yet when Mueller’s office takes the unprecedented step of saying it was not accurate.) And then I remembered:

This story smells a lot like Dan Rather and kerning. ‘Member that choice lil bit from the BushJr. era?

Don’t ‘member alla particulars of the hit-job (on the truth), but recollect some Gooper rat-fuckers fed Dan Rather some false insignificant docs (kerning!) that in no way invalidated the larger (wholly true) story about how GeeDubtheShrub was AWOL and couldn’t be bothered to show up for the Nat.Guard duty that go him outta Vietnam.

But: Voila. The press shifts emphasis from how George “Rather-Join-the-Guard-than-Blow-Out-Muh-Eardrum-witha-Shotgun!” W. Bush was a useless fratboy chickenhawk and over to how the press! is out to unfairly get BushJr.

The old Gooper playbook for muddying the waters: invalidate any aspect of a story/investigation, then alluvit (if yer a Republican!) gets invalidated.

@dmsilev: McConnell wants very badly to ‘declare victory and go home ‘…he (just like the rest of us) can’t figure out how to do that while simultaneously pleasing Dems in Congress and the RWNJ Coulter/Miller base

I asked earlier if anyone had an Apple Watch 4? I was poking around reviews and saw that it had ecg and irregular heart rhythm monitor as well as a fall alert function. Given some of my health issues I went ahead and ordered one even though it was pricey.

@raven: A good friend has one. He bought it for the same reason you did. He used it to replace some other heart monitor thing (looked like a pager with little electrodes) that he had to wear. He swears by it.

¡Hola jackals! I already feel like I need to apologize to every Mexican I meet for the embarrassment of the traitor-in-chief, so I hope whatever bullshit he spews tomorrow doesn’t make me have to hide for the rest of my trip*.

*Which has been wonderful! I highly recommend a trip to Mexico City to anyone even remotely interested. And I’m a happy co-incidence, one of the women from my Thailand elephant project trip is also here, and we’re doing a meet up tomorrow. Double reunions: Mi familia y mi amiga!

Johnson & Johnson JNJ 1.24% said Thursday that it has joined with Apple Inc. AAPL 0.62% on a research study that will test the Apple Watch’s ability to help detect early irregular heart conditions in certain people before something life-threatening happens.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is a part of J&J’s family of research and development companies, will work on the study. The company will use its J&J-developed heart health monitoring app on the latest Apple Watch series. The app will help detect the irregular heart rhythm of people living with atrial fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia that often goes unnoticed and can make them more prone to strokes.

The study is the latest attempt to tap into the ubiquity of the mobile device and test its ability to help monitor or improve health. Apple has allowed medical researchers and developers to use its ResearchKit and CareKit platforms to create apps to start, run and track their own clinical trials using Apple Watch technology.

@lollipopguild: Good point. I’ll believe that Trump’s deal (if that is what the announcement is) is real if Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are standing behind him, smiling, and if they applaud after Trump’s done.

Trump will be ignored by a quarter of the country while we’re dealing with the fucking snow.

Cantore’s in town, so New England is doomed.

Furthermore, HerrDoktor’s flight home was cancelled, and he gets to take Amtrak through the snow (honestly, I think he’ll be fine). I’ll pick him up at SouthStation, drive him to Logan Central Parking, and we’ll follow the plows down the Pike back home. He has no choice; he’s speaking at a conference at noon tomorrow, then at a different conference in downtown Boston at 11 am and 3pm(?) Sunday, and another talk Monday.

@poleaxedbyboatwork: I think everyone has gotten to the point that they realize the gist of the story is true enough, even if some of the details are not, that there is no point in making a big deal about it. It’s a waste of energy. The front in the continuing political and legal trench warfare, will have already shifted anyway.

To be fair, that image is from 2011, but I think Gillette could have knocked it out of the park in their ad if they’d explicitly included a repudiation of the “old” Gillette way of advertising, rather than just preaching from a safe place.

@poleaxedbyboatwork: I think it is more likely that the leaks came out of the SDNY or the non-FBI portions of the counterintelligence community and what Mueller is doing is distancing his office, investigators, and investigation.

Oh, agreed. No question. I take your point. I’d just very much like to see a corroborating press source or thirty come forth (cuz it sounds exactly like something Trump would say and do).

The other incident this reminds me of (at least now, while nothing is confirmed as yet) is the danger of coming forth and being either wrong or unable to show paper or evidence onna claim. Thinking specifically of the grievous disservice attention-whore Michael Avenatti did during the Kavanaugh hearings. ‘Member when he stuck his oar in the water just before CBF’s testimony and then couldn’t produce? And the damaging effect that had, cuz then alla sudden Susan “Maundering-Conceeeeerned-Troll” Collins and similar flakes hadda opportunity to get all in high dudgeon about the “ridiculous rape charges” rather than addressing the concrete and credible attempted rape charges.

Ronan Farrow on the BuzzFeed story: “I can’t speak to Buzzfeed’s sourcing, but, for what it’s worth, I declined to run with parts of the narrative they conveyed based on a source central to the story repeatedly disputing the idea that Trump directly issued orders of that kind.”

@The Dangerman: Depending on what’s in it, it likely will be. Remember this isn’t negotiate with McConnell and Paul Ryan will go along. This is negotiate with McConnell knowing full well what you’re trying to do is politically put this back on Nancy Pelosi. She’s smarter, and a far better strategist and strategic thinker, than McConnell is. Neither Kushner nor Pence have demonstrated any competence with strategy, thinking, and/or strategic thinking.

Unlike North Korea, we in the United States are “innocent until proven guilty” and hold to the principles of Western Civilization, as Rep. King so admirably does. The foundational principle begins with the self-evident truth that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” These are the principles to which Rep. King was referring and which he has championed for more than two decades of public service.

LOL. “Innocent until proven guilty” is only a legal standard in criminal trials in courts of law. Steve King doesn’t have an inalienable right to be on committees and removing him when he has a documented history of saying shit like this doesn’t make us like North Korea. King himself even voted for the measure! These people are so fucking stupid it’s not even funny.

Chris Hayes tweeted that he is still furious about Iraq and all the people who pushed us into that war and Glenn Greenwald slammed him for working for someone who was one of the biggest propagandists for that war.

I remember Greenwald wanted to give W the benefit of the doubt and that he supported Bush and the war.

The largest single group of asylum seekers ever to cross into the U.S. tunneled beneath the border wall near San Luis, Arizona, on Monday, voluntarily turning themselves into Customs and Border Protection, according to the agency.

Migrants can be seen marching toward Border Patrol agents by the hundreds, according to video obtained by ABC News. Smugglers dug a series of seven holes, only a few feet long beneath the steel border fence, with hundreds going beneath the wall and a smaller number clambering over it, according to CBP.

The fresh sand and scuff marks of shoes on the rusty steel were still there when ABC News visited the site on Thursday.

The agency says 179 of the record 376 people who crossed were children, including over 30 unaccompanied minors — children under 18 traveling on their own.

@Baud: they’re having their own problems here. They elected a Wilmer-like Presidente in the last election, and he shut down some portion of the state petroleum industry, resulting in gas shortages and rationing and multiple hours long lines at gas stations. He seems to be working off Drumpf’s playbook.

Why would Mueller do that? More specifically, if the leaks came from somewhere like SDNY, why would Mueller feel compelled to issue a statement, i.e. Mueller’s not saying the info isn’t from his investigation, more germanely, he’s saying that it ain’t accurate? Don’t understand the reasoning as to why Mueller would do that (unless, following your appraisal as best I’m able, Mueller is openly disagreeing with SDNY).

SCOOP by @Byrontau@AlexandraBerzon: A lobbyist for Adelson sent a memo to top DOJ officials, arguing that a 2011 opinion that benefited gambling was wrong. Then the DOJ announced its Office of Legal Counsel had, in an unusual move, reversed its position. https://t.co/AFsGIkDXFU

To reinforce that his office is scrupulously following the regs and doesn’t leak.

Maybe I’m just thick, but my understanding is that Mueller is saying the Buzzfeed story is inaccurate, correct? If, as you are suggesting, the sourcing leak comes from somewhere separate and apart from the Mueller team (for the sake of argument, we’ll say it’s SDNY), I don’t understand how this reinforces your point? The Mueller team *is* scrupulously following regs and not leaking. Not disputing that. Don’t see how contradicting the Buzzfeed story’s veracity makes those points, tho.

If this Buzzfeed story comes from, say, SDNY as you suggest, then Mueller’s team is saying they disagree with SDNY. They’re saying, in your formulation, that SDNY is wrong.

What am I missing here? (You’re a lot smarter than I am, so my first inclination is to doubt myself here, but I truly don’t understand your reasoning on this.)

The Mueller statement doesn’t actually say the gist of the story is wrong. It says “specific statements” and the “characterization” of supporting evidence are inaccurate. That’s not exactly saying the whole thing is off base. It pretty much says to me that he wouldn’t go so far as to state the case with the confidence stated by the sources in the article. But he needs to get evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Which tells me a congressional inquiry, possibly leading to impeachment, should start ASAP. Mueller is concerned with the legal issues. But there are matters here beyond just the legal issues. The American people need some kind of transparent process so that the political part of this matter can commence. Whether he is finally convicted in the Senate isn’t important at this moment. As during Watergate, a House inquiry can and must happen and there is no reason that and the Mueller investigation shouldn’t happen in tandem. Since impeachment only requires the preponderance of the evidence, they have more flexibility to dig into blind alleys to see where they lead. With the added bonus of the public being privy to the true extent of the betrayal of this president.

@poleaxedbyboatwork: I dunno, Mueller’s statement seemed very carefully and narrowly phrased to me. The description of specific statements and tge characterization of documents and testimony were not accurate.

It doesn’t read to me as a denial of the conclusions of Trump’s involvement, just of who said what about it. Just that the story is not totally accurate in all the details. What I’m wondering is why a denial of anything was necessary. Maybe, as Adam says, just to make it clear “this is not a leak from our office”.

@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷: When I was about 7 or 8, I read the same Readers’ Digest article about Oak Island that the Lagina brothers had read over a decade before. It is a great legend/story. So I watch the show just to see what, if anything, they come up with.

Don’t go against my grain. Things’d be different, imo, if Muelller’s report were actually, you know, necessary to proceed with impeachment hearings. But think there’s a purty hefty bill of particulars already extant, and if Dems don’t get started on performing their civic duty, they will never do so (some excuse like an upcoming election will always take precedence).

Have been concerned that if impeachment hearings do not begin before May or June, they prolly never would (short of some thunderbolt from Mueller later and even then maybe not).

In the course of a few hours Trump has engaged in witness intimidation and leaked a secret Congressional trip to a war zone. To obscure all his prior criminal conduct, Trump is increasing the tempo of his current criminal conduct.

I’m not part of that, for several reasons. One reason is that, even if I did trust Mueller 100 percent, he is not in charge of what happens after the report is issued.
There is just so much we do not know, it is pointless to try to figure out with high probability what some of these events mean. Hard to tell what the SCO statement today meant. I think the consensus among knowledgeable analysts is that ONE reason is to signal they had nothing to do with the BF story.

Bertrand’s idea, or information, might be the reason for FDNY, or NY State or IC people to give BF the story. They hear the way the wind’s blowing and they don’t think Barr can be trusted to not try to bury the report. I think an explosive report would be leaked anyway, by someone, but sitting on leaks for two years might not be good. So, the story, even if somewhat inaccurate, may have been a signal to the House that they need to get into gear on this, and the subtext was reassurance that there is plenty of really dirty Trump dirt for good hearings to uncover, and they are assured of at least one really slam dunk item on the bill of impeachment.

So, if that is what the BF story does, get the House in high gear quick smart on investigations, that is a good thing.